funtimestwo

huzzah and happy day
soo we made it to today the big deadline-I'm at work now. The bags are packed, the party was grand, I had a nice outfit and shoes!!!!
In case you are just joining us here in hectoc lululand or in case my cryptic musings befuddle-Today is the day thay I leave for Texas-from work. Today is the day that so many things had to be done by. Today is the day I wasn't sure I'd actually see. Today I saw my new home filled with boxes and furniture. Today I saw my travel bags and presents stacked neatly by the door, ready for our travels. Today I can breathe a little easier. Today I will get on a plane and go see people who will feed and care for me. Today I will not have to pack boxes or call plumbers or pay repair men. Today I leave work not to return for 19 DAYS-what??????? (I just counted, wow)
I was wined and dined last night. Four courses including appetizer passing, all accompanied by the various appropriate alcoholic beverage. I won a bottle of champ-y (darling) for being the office entertainer of the year (again, what?) I stayed up til 2am and got up at 7:20am and I feel amazing. I get to leave work early. I get to see loved ones (not all of them but I can't complain). I get to eat tex-mex. I get to spend NY eve in NYC with mah honey-probably drinking the aforementioned champagne and unpacking (too bad the cable won't be hooked up yet-there's an Ab Fab marathon on). I get to go to Hawaii. I get to home-i-fy my new home. I'm such a lucky girl!
Again, huzzah!

Paintsville U! S! A!
All day Saturday and Sunday
This brush is for you

..and now a short musing entitled 'Some dames (or how my cat saved my sanity)'
The days were ticking down like the flighty little bastards they can be, the inbox was piling up, the deadline was looming ever nearer. Every minute detail that could change was turning on a dime like she was getting paid to dance with perverts. An ugly site but nothing new. When you been around the business as long as I have you see some ugly things, some things you don't write home about-I think you get my meaning. The topper was the feline situation. Love the damn thing almost as much as my signature stogie I'm chompin now. You think a dame is testy - imaigne a feline dame. She don't appreciate you rearranging the furniture much less taking off for weeks without so much as dozen long stem roses for the good times. Long story short, the cat took a stand. She saw the madness and said it had to stop. "Until you jokers get your whiskers untangled I will be staying right here where I'm comfortable thank you-I just need a few comforts and you can get all your other crap outta here and into this supposed "new place" you've been ranting about BUT leave me in peace where I am happy and have all the good street watching scoped at least until after Christmas-puh-leeze, your little friends will come by, I may receive them-don't push me" and just like that, the to-do list shrank by half. Some dames are worth the trouble.

Yesterday after some more of my now frequent brain spasms and a profusion of garbled scribblings I finally got a semi-decent timeline together -A PLACE! A THING! outside my head to pin down these winged gnat like worries buzzing round my brain-I feel better now, almost giddy.
That doesn't mean that its all done or that it will all be ok automatically-it just means that I can fax this crap to mah honey (off gallivanting-damn rock drummer) and have him deal with some of it...so suffice it to say that its an unforgiving, tight schedule with certain allowances and B plans for the unexpected/unavoidable up croppings. We are still planning to get on a plane on December 20 Its hard too when you get the head shaking tongue cluckers - I just apply my independent theater producer logic-"We open on this date, therefore everything that must be done WILL be done by then..."- it worked before-sheer irrational faith and persistence, plus ceaseless ruminating on the ways and means. Makes for boring cocktail party fodder though.
I can't complain really because we're lucky devils to get to go see our family for the holidays and then......I feel sooo guilty but-we are going to Hawaii for a friend's wedding from Jan 1-8 so we will have the three or so days back in the new house before taking off again-It seems so crazy, such wrong timing but when excellent opportunities present themselves you just have to take the plunge-the new house purchases on the Continental Airlines debit card is actually how we racked up enough frequent flyer miles to make the trip. That plus the cousin putting us up in Honolulu and the $50 per night B&B our friends arranged in Kona and its do-able. Its almost an offer we can't refuse so we didn't. I figure January is usually slow with all post consumptive holiday climax blues setting in it will be good to have some projects to dive into-finishing the new place, unpacking, planning the house warming party-turning back into a regular human. That sort of thing. Now I must get Christmas presents, do the cards, pack the rest of the house, arrange the deliveries, what not...oh yeah and do my "work" work

In other news: All of the demolition type work is now done and roughly 20 large "contractor" bags worth of floor, ceiling and wall materials are now in the city dump instead of my new home-glory be to good friends with growing skills and interest in small home improvement projects done on little to no budget! The flooring guy started yesterday-the job is estimated to take 10 or 14 days but probably less because he likes to leave room in the estimate just in case and all this including negotiating how level the floors will end up and various other very specific floor details all related to me in English learned on the job doing floors and restorations-yea I'm a bit nervous but at least I negotiated him down to 25% down instead of the 50% originally suggested-did I mention we are paying him in cash? Also mah sweet honey is in a van in middle America somewhere. ummmm my nerves are going haywire because on top of this we are really hoping to get everything else done in and around the floor guy and be moved in before we get on the plane to go to the family holiday festivities on December 20th (remember the 10-14 day floor estimate...) Also the plumber has to go in and redo the "totally illegal" waste pipes of both the kitchen and bathroom sinks and there's a whole other potential issue with a possible toilet leak causing a mystery stain on the neighbor's ceiling. Mom came to town last night for marathon packing weekend-she is really good at that and while we aren't ready to be totally packed up, this is my big opportunity to get it done (well.) Still, she started taking pictures down off the wall and I had a mini interior meltdown-save that for last! Not yet! Not yet! My little secret self isn't ready for the reality of home ownership even after all the long drawn out lead up. I'm off to draw up some sort of magical calendar allowing for all this important stuff to get done somewhat on time thereby allaying the creeping upward of my innards-they crave the warm security of my mouth-down you bastards! Down innards! yea um did I say I'm berry berry nervous and antsy?

I'll deal with the weird color shortly

Did anyone read this hilarious piece in the recent New Yorker? At first I thought it was genuine and was talking back to the damn thing on the subway (coo-coo)
excerpt:
According to a study just released by scientists at Duke University, life is too hard. Although their findings mainly concern life as experienced by human beings, the study also applies to other inanimate forms, the scientists claim

Be warned the NYer has an article about "war in pictures" - the pictures are jarring and disturbing and I wish I hadn't looked at them